Iowa 103, North Florida 78: Perkins Leads Hawks with Heavy Heart

IOWA CITY -- Iowa pulled away in the second half for another non-conference home victory, dispatching North Florida 103-78 on Wednesday night.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Senior guard Tony Perkins' grandmother passed away earlier this week. He came back just a few days later and tied Ben Krikke with 21 points to lead Iowa in scoring on Wednesday evening.

"It was really remarkable and speaks to his character," Fran McCaffery said after the game. "He found out Monday morning that his biggest fan passed. He was in my office and was incredibly emotional. He couldn't practice. But he came, he watched film and practiced on Tuesday. He played a spectacular game tonight on both ends of the floor."

Perkins made an immediate impact, scoring ten of Iowa's first 22 points. He led all scorers with 14 points in the first half.

"Before the game I didn't really feel too good," Perkins said. "She meant the world. She was like another mom to me. Whenever my mom had to work later, she was always there, regardless of what I needed."

"I zoned everything out to start. There were just memories in my head as I was playing. Growing up she had a basketball court. I used to go out there and she used to rebound for me."

McCaffery said he could tell that his starting two-guard was locked in before the game.

"If you had talked to me before the game, I would have predicted his performance. Just knowing him -- that's what makes him special."

The Iowa starters once again started off with little-to-no energy, which has become a recurring issue this season. Game after game, the freshman group have continually shown that they bring energy off the bench, whether they get in the game early or not. That spark often comes from the Moline-based duo of Owen Freeman and Brock Harding.

That trend continued on Wednesday night.

Through the first 16:40 of the game, the Hawkeyes struggled to separate themselves from a clearly lesser-talented North Florida team, as the lead fluctuated between 4-7 points for much of the first half. Then Harding entered the game for the first time and dished a beautiful assist to his former high school teammate for an easy dunk.

"I feel like when we're on the court at the same time, good things happen," Freeman said postgame. "That's the kind of connection we share. I definitely feel comfortable with Brock on the court. I know where he's going to be at, and he knows here I'm going to be at."

The lead grew to ten and stayed there until the final minute of the first half when UNF went on a run before the buzzer.

"I wasn't happy with how the half ended," McCaffery said. "We quick inbounded the ball with 33 or 34 seconds left. You can't do that. You need to take the last shot -- not shoot it with nine seconds left. So, not only did they get one shot, they got two shots. That's unacceptable."

Though the first half didn't end in a positive fashion and Iowa didn't consistently hold a double-digit lead until there were just over ten minutes left in the game, the Hawkeyes did eventually pull away from North Florida.

Iowa emphasized getting the ball into the hands of Krikke and Freeman hands for easy buckets against the undersized Ospreys, pulled down more rebounds, and guarded the perimeter and the paint with much more intensity, which turned a relatively close game into a blowout victory..

Exhibit A was once again Freeman, with three blocks in roughly five seconds in one particularly impressive sequence. See for yourself:

"He's been really special in a number of ways," McCaffery said. "Obviously the shot-blocking, but the rebounding as well. His awareness has been really good. He might make a mistake or two, but he doesn't really linger on them. He's got a pretty keen sense of where he's supposed to be, but for a freshman, he's been really special in that area."

"You can count on him when I put him in to do good things and impact the game at both ends of the floor in a positive way. He's not a mistake maker, he's an effort guy, he's an athlete and he's skilled. I think the scary thing is that he's going to keep getting better, and that's a great thing."

Freeman ended the game with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor (4-of-4 at the free throw line), as well as five rebounds and five blocks in 19 minutes of action. He also finished with a +25 plus-minus margin; Iowa was utterly dominant when he was on the court Wednesday.

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